building first site for a client: charge and what to do

[Violet_82]

Hi peeps,
As I'm beginning to build websites for people, well in fact this will be the first one, I was just wondering what's the best approach to take. The website in question is apparently a small one, no more than 5 pages, static (only HTML and CSS, maybe some javascript).
I've done my research on the net of course, but the price range varies so much that it is difficult to decide what to do. I was thinking the price should be in the range of £250 considering what I know so far (I don't know who will provide the design, whether it's responsive or not and who will maintain it).
Any suggestion?
thanks

[hericles]

The biggest mistake freelancers do when starting out is charging too little (generally thinking they can't ask too much for their current skill set). Find out what the average per hour for web design work is and use that as your base. You can go lower of course, but just keep it reasonable, don't sell yourself short.
If you're planning to charge per hour then charge a decent hourly sum remembering that this is a technical skill set. If you plan to charge for the project then calculate a decent pay rate based on how long you think it will take to do plus a fudge factor (for issues you run into along the way).
More important than that is to clearly define what it is you will do and what the client expects. Get that in writing and then work to it.
Everytime the client wants something that wasn't in the originl scope thats more money to you. DON'T GIVE AWAY YOUR TIME! Even if it's ten minutes work, your clients need to know that extra work means extra cost.

[Violet_82]

thanks, I think I'd charge on a per-project basis (not sure why, it feels better) but I will definitely clarify what exactly the client expects, as they've been pretty vague
thanks